Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of a corresponding external source. It can be perceived in one or both ears, or in the head, or outside the head. It is usually described as a ringing noise, but can also be in other forms such as hissing, buzzing, or roaring sounds. Tinnitus can be intermittent or it can be continuous and in such cases can be a cause of great distress to the sufferer.
Tinnitus is not a disease but a symptom resulting from a range of possible underlying causes including, for example, ear infections, foreign objects or wax in the ear, nose allergies, noise-related trauma, side effect of medication or other unexplained causes. Currently, there is no surgical cure for tinnitus. However, temporary relief for sufferers can be provided by external sound devices, for example masking instruments, as tinnitus sufferers often indicate that their tinnitus is less audible in the presence of other sounds.
Another approach to tinnitus management, is the recent trend toward using Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). TRT is a specific clinical method based on a neurophysiological model of tinnitus. The method is aimed at habituation of reactions evoked by tinnitus, and subsequently habituation of the tinnitus perception. Typically, the therapy involves counseling, aimed at reclassification of tinnitus to a category of a neutral signal, and sound therapy, aimed at weakening tinnitus-related neuronal activity. Effectively the TRT method is trying to retrain the patient's brain so that they treat their tinnitus similar to natural sounds that they can accommodate.
Most of the current TRT techniques are time consuming and expensive as they require the clinician to run the counseling and sound therapy sessions.
In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an interactive gaming system and associated auditory training method to facilitate auditory training for sufferers of tinnitus, or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.